Kenya Airways senior employees will not be going on Christmas with full salaries. According to the airline’s internal communication, KQ top employees will receive about half of their normal salaries as the company battles cash flow challenges.
“As communicated earlier, Kenya Airways continues to navigate a challenging period while working steadily toward stability,” an email communication that was sent to affected KQ top employees said. This communication was made by the airline’s human resource department.
“We wish to inform you that December 2025 salaries will be paid in two parts due to the current circumstances. Please be advised that 50 percent of net pay will be disbursed on or before 24 December 2025, with the balance paid on or before January 6, 2026,” the communication stated further.
The airline has been facing severe capacity constrains as its Boeing and Embraer planes remain grounded due to what it has termed as a global shortage of parts. It is however not clear how the airline was unable to foresee this crisis and, or planned to mitigate the unfolding capacity and financial crisis.
Eleven of its planes were grounded. Three planes have resumed service while eight remain parked on the ground. He three that have resumed service include a Boeing 787 Dreamline and two Embraer planes with capacities of 96 and 140 passengers respectively.
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The national carrier has already issued a profit warning for its full year earnings. The airline has blamed the anticipated dip in earnings on low passenger numbers following the grounding of two of its Boeing wide body planes.
“The [Kenya Airways Board of Directors] brings to the attention of the public that the earnings for the current financial year 2025 are expected to be lower by at least 25 percent than the earnings reported for the same period in full year 2024,” Kenya Airways said in a statement.
The profit warning follows a half year loss that the carrier posted for the period ended June 30, 2025. In that period, Kenya Airways made a net loss of Sh12.15 billion.
The national carrier’s loss in the six months was a sharp about turn from the record profit of Sh5.4 billion that the national carrier posted in the full year 2024, and the net profit of Sh513 million in the first six months of 2024.
In the first half of this year, the total income for the national carrier dropped by 18.6 percent to Sh74.5 billion. Operating loss came in at Sh6.2 billion from the Sh1.3 billion that was reported in the first half of 2024.
At the same time, cash and equivalents went red by 10.8 percent to Sh4.2 billion while net cash from operations were red by 2.6 percent to Sh7.7 billion. Assets increased 0.7 percent to Sh180.4 billion.
Kenya Airways blamed the loss on its grounded aircraft. According to immediate former Kenya Airways chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka, 33 percent of the carrier’s wide-body aircraft was grounded for the first six months of this year. The grounding of the aircraft resulted in a 14 percent drop in passenger numbers and a 19 percent drop in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs).
